This invention relates to a craft kit, specifically hand rug hooking and needle art.
Traditional rug hooking dates back to the beginning of our country, when women often used old clothing to make floor coverings. The clothing was cut into strips and the strips were pulled through burlap or jute with a crude type of hook. The burlap or jute were actually discarded feed bags. As time went by, hooking rugs became an art, wherein women dyed old clothing, cut them into strips and made designs with them on burlap. Today the same craft is performed by many large hooking clubs throughout the country.
The traditional technique of making a hooked rug is as follows. A backing comprised of jute, burlap or monk cloth is first provided. Since this type of backing is woven, there are no noticeable holes in the backing. To make a rug with this technique, an instrument called a hook is used. An example of a hook used for hand hooking rugs may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,461, issued on Oct. 31, 1972 to Louis Bailly. The Bailly hook produces a series of continuous loops made of yarn or fabric pulled through a canvas backing. Because the backing has very little stability, a taut stretching of the area being hooked is required. A hoop, which are two large round or oval rings, is usually used to produce the tautness. The backing material is held taut between these two rings. Another method of holding the backing taut is by stretching the rug across the hooker's lap with the hooker sitting on both ends of the rug.
The traditional method of making a hooked rug has several problems. The use of hoops is awkward and causes difficulty, especially if traveling. Stretching a backing across the hooker's lap is generally uncomfortable as the hooker's head must be bent completely downward in order to see the work in progress.
In addition, because the traditional backing used has no noticeable holes, the hooker must push through the material, pick up the yarn from the underneath, and pull the yarn back through the hole. This provides considerable stress and strain on the fingers and hands over time. Because of the stress and strain of pulling the yarn through the backing, the traditional way of hooking a rug becomes very painful, especially to persons handicapped with arthritis in the neck and hands.
Another particular disadvantage to working on jute, burlap, or monk cloth, is that the hooker is never sure where the next loop of yarn should be introduced. This can cause uneven loops. If the loops are too close together, the rug will pucker. If the loops are too far apart, the backing can be seen.
A finished hook rug can only be surfaced cleaned, because the underlying backing will disintegrate if soaked in water. Working with jute or burlap, and wool is uncomfortable, especially on warm weather as the backing is woven, made of hemp and does not breathe well. Adding wool yarn can also make the project dermatologically very uncomfortable. The finishing of a traditional rug is a complicated procedure using a piece of welting held under the edges of the finished rug and fastening it with a needle and wool yarn. The welting must be woven to keep the burlap, jute or monk cloth from fraying.
Latch hooking is another form of hooking rugs. Latch hook kits contain a stiff canvas or backing with holes perfectly aligned. A special instrument called a latch hook is required to pull previously cut yarn, each strand approximately 3" in length, through these holes causing a knot at the base of the backing on the top side. The result is a knotted, cut pile rug, sometimes referred to as a shag rug. An example of the latch hook rug form may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,191, issued on Nov. 28, 1978 to J. K. Cave.
While traditional hook rugs and latch hook rugs require a backing and a hook, they are completely different in techniques and appearance. Latch hook rug backing have relatively large holes are perfectly aligned horizontally and vertically. Pieces of yarn are latched to each opening with a resulting yarn pattern that is uniform. By comparison, hooked rugs use a continuous length of yarn drawn through relatively tightly woven backing giving the effect of a random looping.